I note that Operation Totem has yielded a "catch" in Lincolnshire ("Lenient sentence given to metal detecting thief", Horncastle News August 29, 2012).
A metal dectector enthusiast has been convicted of theft in so-called ‘nighthawking’ trips in the Horncastle area.
[The individual from Yorkshire] faced nine allegations of theft between January 1 and July 8 2011, one allegation of going equipped for theft on June 5 and two allegations of possession of criminal property at his home on July 8.
He denied all the offences but was convicted of eight offences of theft and of going equipped for theft by District Judge John Stobart at Skegness Magistrates Court last week.
More detail is given:
After a police raid at his home in July 2011, police found a large quantity of objects - br…

Is the Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art attempting to undermine the AAMD Guidelines on the acquisition of archaeological material? Drusus does not appear to have authenticated documentation for its collecting history. What is the nature of "all the documentation [the museum] needs to describe the work’s provenance" (Franklin).

It is worth noting the way that the Cleveland Museum of Art has drawn comment from various sources (described by Director David Franklin as "that world") over its acquisition of the Drusus from an old Algerian collection, and the Merrin Mayan vase.

The Cleveland Museum of Art purchased a marble portrait head of Iulius Caesar Drusus Minor (Steven Litt, "Cleveland Museum of Art buys important ancient Roman and Mayan antiquities", Cleveland.com August 12, 2012). The head head has been purchased from Phoenix Ancient Art for an undisclosed sum. Litt provides the collecting history:
The museum said the portrait of Drusus Minor was the property of the Bacri family of Algiers, Algeria, as far back as the late 19th century. The museum said the work was inherited by Fernand Sintes before 1960s, and that Sintes transferred it to France in 1960.
The museum has yet to disclose the authenticated documentation for this reported "pedigree". David Franklin, the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art and expert in Italian Renaissance art, informs the report:
Franklin said the two new purchases follow guidelines established by the Association of Art Museum Directors, which stipulate that museums generally should avoid buying…

Today's announcement that Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan will be Mitt Romney's running mate is not without significance. Paul Barford has rehearsed the issues here. It is sufficient to note that Ryan hold's the ACCG's Friend of Numismatics Award (2006).

The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, part of the Smithsonian, has issued a statement in response to the Subash Kapoor case (August 3, 2012). Interestingly concerns are spreading to material linked to his brother Ramesh. The statement notes:
The Sackler owns four South Asian art objects purchased from a separate business, Kapoor Galleries (1015 Madison Avenue, New York), owned by Ramesh Kapoor, Subhash Kapoor’s brother. These include: a marble bracket figure, India, 13th c. (purchased in 1995); a seated figure of Jambala, Tibet, bronze, 13th c. (purchased in 1996); a Gautama Buddha, Tibet, gilt copper, 14th c. (purchased 1997); and a pair of lamps of fortune, India, bronze, 17th c. (purchased in 2000).
What are the authenticated collecting histories of these four items?

I also note that the release mentions that the curatorial staff are investigating the "robust provenance information" for the items. I hope that museum professionals will consider dropping the use of the misleading…

The National Gallery of Australia has issued a statement about the acquisition of the bronze Shiva.
The National Gallery of Australia is aware of media reports that Indian police have arrested the New York based art dealer, Mr Subhash Kapoor, for allegedly trafficking Indian antiquities and that the case against him is currently underway.
At this point, the Gallery has not been contacted by Indian police or any other authority regarding this matter.
The Gallery contacted the Indian High Commission in Canberra earlier this week to ensure a fully co-operative approach will be taken if required.
The Gallery is one of at least 18 major international art institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington DC and the Art Institute of Chicago that have acquired works of art through gifts or purchased from Mr Kapoor.
‘As with all leading art institutions around the world, the Gallery is…

The National Gallery of Australia is finding itself being asked serious questions about its acquisition policies. At the heart of fuss is the bronze sculpture of Shiva as Lord of the Dance, acquired in 2008 with the assistance of National Gallery of Australia Foundation. The bronze appears on the back cover of the Annual Report of the NGA.

Michaela Boland ("NGA admits buying from disgraced dealer", The Weekend Australian August 4, 2012) noted
The National Gallery of Australia has admitted to acquiring 21 items from disgraced New York antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor, who was arrested on an Interpol warrant and extradited to India, where he is being held on suspicion of trading in stolen precious artefacts.
Among $11 million worth of antiquities Kapoor has so far admitted to trading is a large 900-year old bronze sculpture of the Indian god Shiva, which the Canberra gallery bought in 2008 and displayed prominently on the back cover of its annual report that year.
The museum…

I have already noted the issue of recently surfaced Indian antiquities in North America. It is now reported that dealer Subhash Kapoor supplied six Indian objects to the Art Gallery of New South Wales ("Shady dealer sold art to AGNSW", The Australian August 6, 2012).

Among the pieces reported to be from Kapoor is a stela from West Bengal showing Varaha "rescuing the earth goddess" (inv. 164.1999). This was "Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales 1999". Two other pieces had been purchased in 1994, and another also in 1999.

The Director of AGNSW is Dr Michael Brand whose comments drew attention to the way that looting "destroyed the evidence used by archaeologists to build stories"..

This new revelation follows news that Kapoor also sold material to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. The NGA said that the acquisition of the objects was subject to a "thorough due diligence process".

The acquisition of figure-decorated Greek pottery by museums and its display alongside fine art raises certain issues about the ancient status of such ancient objects. Even Athenian pots attributed to "high status" artists can be shown (from ancient trademarks) to have had relatively low status. So when a museum pays $1 million for an Athenian krater, does it distort our perception of ancient "art"?

Issues such as this were explored in Artful Crafts, co-authored with Professor Michael Vickers, formerly of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

A workshop on the theme will be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge on Friday 2 November. Details are available from the McDonald Institute website.
A workshop/symposium, to be understood as an artwork, that brings together archaeology, art practice, art history, philosophy, classics and history to interrogate assumptions about status, art and culture through classical Greek pottery will take place at the Fitwilliam Museum. This…

I was discussing the display of the Mildenhall Great Dish with Dr John Blatchly earlier today. Blatchly asked me if I had read his piece in the East Anglian Daily Times ("Treasure borne by dust-cart", July 21, 2012).

Apparently the Mildenhall Treasure was removed from Ipswich to the British Museum in an Ipswich Borough Council dust-cart, escorted by William Goldsmith, the superintendent of the refuse service. It appears that this was to foil any attempt to steal the treasure between the two museums.

About Me

David Gill is Professor of Archaeological Heritage and Director of Heritage Futures at the University of Suffolk. He was a Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome and a Sir James Knott Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was subsequently part of the Department of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, and Reader in Mediterranean Archaeology, Swansea University. He holds the Archaeological Institute of America's Outstanding Public Service Award (2012).